Healing at Goode
by Sweeney1999
Summary: With the Giant War over, Percy and Annabeth have been causing trouble. Chiron decides to send them off to Sally's to cool off for a while. Sally and Chiron also agree that the two should get their diplomas. What happens when both Annabeth and Percy are sent back to Goode, with Percy admitting that he doesn't remember everything after the 'Hera Incident? Could there be trouble?
1. Prolouge

**A/N: NEW STORY! Yay! Okay, I will honestly try and not make this cliché. If it becomes like that, please, PLEASE, let me know! Okay, let's give this a whirl.**

The Giant War- it had officially ended a month ago, ironically, on August 18th, just like the last war. Many campers, from both camps, had been killed in combat, and just like with the previous war, the camp's bead was one that commemorated the fallen. Among the fallen were Octavian, Connor Stoll, Pollux (Mr. D's other son) and Reyna. There were many, many more, but these were some of the few that Percy and Annabeth had known for quite well. Jason and Piper had moved to Camp Jupiter, as well as Leo, so that Jason could reclaim his position of Praetor in Reyna's place- and well, Piper and Leo just couldn't leave him, they were, after all, a team. Frank, Hazel and Nico had all decided to stay at Camp Half Blood- Frank and Hazel saying they wanted to be there for Percy, Nico just not ready to return to the Underworld after his traumatic experience in Tartarus.

Percy and Annabeth, however, were a different story. Like Nico, they were traumatized. They spent almost two weeks in Tartarus and honestly- they were broken. They were very skinny and pale, with dark heavy bags under their eyes- all due to the annual nightmares the two shared, waking up in cold sweats, thinking that the other was dead. They tried to talk to Nico, but Nico couldn't help them- he was a son of Hades, his experience wasn't as bad as theirs- still bad, but not nearly _as _bad.

The camp knew that it wasn't Percy and Annabeth's faults, but their nightly occurrences of screaming was beginning to wear them down. The campers were becoming more and more tired, and they were all beginning to look like they belonged in the Hypnos cabin. Chiron had been receiving complaints from them, the younger campers mostly, but a few of the older ones as well- like Drew, saying their screaming was disrupting her beauty sleep. Chiron had to make a choice- send his two most prized demigods away for a while, so they can recuperate, or risk the safety of his campers.

It was a Sunday, the first Sunday in September, when Chiron had summoned both Percy Annabeth into his office. The two walked slowly, like zombies, to his office, living off of only a few hours of sleep. As they sat down in the dusty chairs in Chiron's office, they sighed.

"Hello. How are you doing?" Chiron asked, knowing that the next few minutes were going to be rough.

"Really Chiron? How's it going? I think we all know how it's going." Annabeth yawned.

"Yes…I know, just trying to start the conversation." Chiron said.

"You've never been one foe conversation starters, Chiron. Now, what exactly do you want?" Percy snorted.

"Ah, yes. Well, you two, this, I'm afraid, is going to be a terribly awkward conversation. I know it's not your faults, but, some of the other campers, they've been well…complaining." Chiron started.

"About what?" Annabeth asked, sitting up straighter.

"About you two…and you're frequent nightmares. Now, I know there is **nothing** you can do to control them, but…well, you've seen it. The whole camp looks like they're dead on their feet. They've asked me to fix it… And let me reassure you, I really don't want to do this." Chiron continued.

"You're kicking us out." Percy interjected. Annabeth's eyes widened, her eyes filled with rage.

"What?!" Annabeth yelled.

"Annabeth, Percy, let me assure you this is for the best." Chiron started, before he was cut off.

"How is it best, Chiron? I've lived here practically my whole life! This is my home! You can't just kick me-us-out! We're the leaders!" Annabeth yelled, outraged.

"Annabeth, please, calm down. Come on, just…let Chiron explain himself. Maybe it'll make sense. And besides, we haven't been very leader-y lately, anyways." Percy said, rubbing his temples, as if he had a headache. Annabeth considered Percy's words before sitting back down in her chair. Chiron sighed.

"Percy makes an excellent point. And besides, Annabeth, you've seen them. They're so tired. What if a monster attacked? They'd be too tired to even pick up their swords, let alone think of a strategy to fight it. And anyways, you two need a break. You've been non-stop action adventure since you were 12 years old. Give it a rest, even if it's just for a little while." Chiron further explained himself.

Annabeth and Percy sighed simultaneously, before Annabeth asked, "Where would we go?"

"You're going to Percy's house. I called his mother last night, she should be here in an hour." Chiron answered her.

"Well, at least we'll be close to camp." Percy sighed.

"Exactly. Oh, and um… Sally and I talked about this…we agreed that in order to even further take your minds off of…that place…we thought it would be a good idea if you two earned you high school diplomas." Chiron said.

"What?! You mean…I have to go back to Goode?! We have to go to Goode?!" Percy yelled, outraged.

"Yes, Percy, you're going back to Goode- the both of you. But just think about it, when you two want to start getting jobs, starting a family, you're going to want a diploma- not many places will accept you if you don't have your diploma. Really, it's a good thing." Chiron explained, trying to be level headed.

"I know…it's just…oh never mind. You said my mom would be here in an hour?" Percy asked. Chiron nodded. "Okay, we'll go pack and say good bye to our friends." Percy sighed.

"Believe me, you two, it's for the best." Chiron told them as they exited his office.

The two hung their heads low as they walked off to their respective cabins. Percy didn't pack much- just his clothes and his tooth brush- after all, they were going to his house, where he lived. Annabeth, however, had to pack everything. She packed her clothes, her books, her toiletries- everything. She was numb- the majority of her life was spent at Camp Half Blood, and now she was being sent away.

Annabeth and Percy met up at the dinning pavilion, sitting at Poseidon's table.

"Percy, what are we going to do?" Annabeth asked, worriedly.

"We're going to go to my house, go to Goode, probably dealing with some people that could pass as monsters, as well as monsters, graduate, and then come back here." Percy said unenthusiastically.

"Yeah…I guess. Come on, let's go say good-bye." Annabeth said, standing up. The two found Frank, Hazel and Nico outside the Hades cabin- talking about Mythomagic.

"Guys…we're leaving." Annabeth said.

"What?" Hazel asked.

"We're leaving. Chiron thinks it best if we go for a while and just cool down." Percy said. Hazel was shocked, her mouth wide open, tears welling in her eyes. Frank's eyes had widened and Nico's eyebrows were raised. Hazel stood up and hugged both Percy and Annabeth. When she pulled away, Frank stood up, as well as Nico.

"I'm going to miss you. We're going to miss you." Hazel said, a few tears escaping her tear ducts.

"Don't worry, Hazel. Just IM us- and we'll be back on Thanksgiving Break before you know it." Percy reassured her.

"Percy! Annabeth! Come on, your mother is here!" Chiron yelled from Half Blood Hill.

"Bye." Percy said quietly as he and Annabeth walked side by side down the hill, and into Sally's car.

* * *

Percy, Annabeth and Sally arrived back at Sally's apartment at around 4 in the afternoon, where Percy devoted as much energy as he could spare to helping Annabeth get comfortable in the guest bedroom. After she was all settled in, Sally and Paul ordered pizza from the place down the street. The couple dinned and then went to Percy's room- Sally left them alone, knowing they probably weren't very happy with being 'kicked out' of camp. A few hours later, around 9:30 or so, Sally saw Annabeth trudging across the hall into her 'room', saying she was calling it a night. Sally stayed up for a long while, until at least midnight, when she heard a scream. An awful, gut wrenching, scream- coming from Percy's room. She jumped up and sprinted to her little boy's room, only to discover that Annabeth was already there. Sally, not having been noticed yet, backed out of the doorway, and stood in the hall, listening to their quiet murmurs.

"You…you were dead…in my arms and, and I was carrying you out of the elevator, and I didn't even know you were dead, until, until Jason ripped you out of my arms. And, and Frank, and Nico, and Leo and even Hazel had to hold me back. And, and Piper had to charm speak me to calm me down, and, instead of being smart, I, I jumped back into the elevator, went back down and, and I just died. I just died, Annabeth." Percy said through sobs, hyperventilating a little.

"Shh…hey, shh. That didn't happen, it didn't happen, it was just a nightmare. You're okay, I'm alive, you're alive and we're in your mom's apartment, safe. Okay? Come on now, shh." Annabeth soothed Percy.

"But that's the thing, it was, it was all so real. And, and the fact that it actually could've happened, was so, so…scary." Percy explained.

"But it didn't happen. Okay? Now come on, we have to get some sleep, okay? Shh…I'm going to go to my room, will you be okay? Alright, goodnight, Percy." Annabeth said, getting up off of his bed. But by then, Sally was already in her room with Paul, crying herself to sleep.

**Good? Bad? I know, short. But all first chapters are short, right? Don't worry. I'm really psyched for this story. And for fans of my DBZ story, don't worry you'll get your update soon. Bye!**


	2. Who Are You?

**A/N: Whoa! Fastest response ever to one of my stories! Thanks, I really appreciate it. Just FYI, I don't normally update this often, I'm just in a great mood.**

Percy, Annabeth and Paul all woke up the ungodly hour of 5:30 in the morning, so that Percy and Annabeth could carpool with Paul. Paul drank his coffee and read the newspaper in silence as Percy and Annabeth dined on toast and orange juice. The two tried not to be awkward, but they both had a feeling that Paul had heard Percy's screaming the night before.

"Well, I'm going to go get ready. Half an hour, and we're leaving." Paul informed them as he got up from the table and headed towards his room. Annabeth finished her juice before doing the same, smiling at Percy. Percy sat in his kitchen, scarred out of his mind. Normally, he shouldn't be scared as something as silly as the first day of school. After all, he'd taken on monsters from the pits of Tartarus…but this time it was different. After Hera had 'kidnapped' him, and he lost his memory, he really lost all of it. And of course, after drinking the gorgon's blood, he slowly regained all of his memories. Or so he had thought. When Chiron had brought up the subject of Goode and high school the day before, Percy's mind called a blank. He knew it was a school, and he knew he had attended at one point, but other than that, he remembered nothing- no friends, no teachers (except for Paul) and no bullies. It was like an empty white building that didn't belong.

Eventually Percy headed over to his room and threw on an old shirt and a pair of jeans- it's not like he was trying to impress anybody- or should he be? He set that thought aside and walked to the bathroom, which was taken by either Paul or Annabeth- either way he wasn't getting in. _Whelp, good thing I have an extra toothbrush from camp _Percy thought as he brought out his extra toothbrush, as well as tooth paste. Percy ventured back into the kitchen and brushed his teeth over the sink, getting white foam all over the dishes. Once Percy was done with his teeth, not even bothering with his hair, he gathered up his backpack and some lunch money and waited for Paul and Annabeth. Minutes later, both of them were done, and all three of them headed off to Goode. It was 6:20.

* * *

"Alright, you two. Go get your schedules from the main office. Classes start at 8:00, but you don't have to be in the classroom until 8:10. I'm pretty sure both of you are in my fourth period, so I'll see you later. Oh, and try to make friends." Paul informed the two as they walked through the front doors of Goode. Between New York traffic and Paul's insane driving, they made it in 10 minutes-6:50 inside a high school, not a soul in sight. The three went their separate ways, as Percy and Annabeth took an immediate left and Paul continued down the hall. They walked up to the secretary- an older lady with white hair and glasses connected to a chain.

"Hello, dears. What is it that you need this early in the morning?" she asked, smiling.

"We need our schedules. We're kind of new…ish. My name is Annabeth Chase, and he's Percy Jackson." Annabeth told her, pointing to herself and Percy.

"Percy?! Is that you? My…you look so different." The lady was shocked.

"Um, right, Ms.…uh…" Percy drew yet another blank.

"Ms. Farnsworth, dear, Ms. Farnsworth. Do you honestly not remember me? Why you were in here, all the time, saving more and more freshman from their torturers." Ms. Farnsworth told him, sounding like they were great friends.

"I had an accident, that's why I left for a while. I don't remember much about this place. I'm sorry." Percy apologized, lying about his memory loss.

"Oh, it's okay, my dear." She said, sighing, printing out their schedules, and a map of the school for each of them.

"Curious- you both have the same schedule. Maybe it's just coincidence. Anyways, you two, have a nice day. Oh, and Percy, be careful." Ms. Farnsworth remarked as she handed the two their schedules and they left. Annabeth practically dragged Percy to the cafeteria, where she then plopped both of them on one of the many long empty tables.

"You don't remember this place yet, do you?" Annabeth asked his as soon as he sat down.

Percy shook his head. "No, not really. Like, at camp, when Chiron told us about school, I knew we were going to go here, and I knew it was the school where Paul taught at, but after that, I don't remember any of this. I have no idea who my friends are, no idea about demon teachers, and I certainly don't remember any of the bullies. I'm walking into this just as blindly as you are." Percy admitted, folding his hands on the table.

"Well, at least with the amnesia thing, you have a 50/50 chance of being okay." Annabeth pointed out.

"What's my other possibility?" Percy asked.

"Being used by people that are supposedly your friends, and then you rejecting your real friends." Annabeth said simply, inspecting her nail.

"Oh, well that's just great." Percy deadpanned. Annabeth laughed, and placed her hands on top of his.

"Don't worry, if anybody messes with my Seaweed Brain, I'll just have to show them some of my mad skills." Annabeth reassured him. Percy laughed, and leaned in and lightly kissed her- thanking the gods that he remembered to brush his teeth.

"Thanks, Wise Girl." Percy thanked her, after it was over, mussing up her hair I a playful manner. Annabeth laughed and fixed her hair. As they sat there, and more and more people started to flood in, Percy and Annabeth studied them carefully, trying to sense if any of them were monsters- Percy certainly didn't want another Kelli and Tammi incident. At about 7:40, the doors blew in and in walked a boy and a girl, obviously fighting. They looked like they were Percy's age- seniors. The cafeteria became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"You know what Mikayla?! I don't ever want to see you again!" the guy yelled at the girl, Mikayla.

"Well, that's going to be kind of hard, dumbass! You're in all of my classes!" Mikayla yelled back at the guy.

"Well! Well! Oh whatever! I'm out of here!" The guy yelled, storming back out of the cafeteria.

"See 'ya later, ass wipe!" Mikayla called after him. He flipped her off, not even bothering to turn around. Then Percy did a very Percy thing to do. He laughed. He laughed loudly and all of the heads in the cafeteria turned to look him, including Mikayla. She progressed towards Percy and Annabeth's table, Annabeth trying to get Percy to stop laughing. Percy couldn't help it- the irony of the situation was so, well, ironic. Here was a young couple, who was supposedly 'in love until the Earth stopped spinning', calling each other names, and saying they never wanted to see each other again. Normally, Percy knew it would be rude to laugh, but after his trip to the deepest, darkest, Hell, he just couldn't begin to fathom the differences between the meaning of love to a demigod, and the meaning of love to a regular mortal. The differences were so funny to Percy- call it dark humor if you would. Percy's laughing decreased to merely a giggle or two when a shadow cast over him and Annabeth.

"What's so funny, skinny-ass?" Mikayla asked, glaring daggers at the two of them, but mainly Percy.

"Oh, it's all just so ironic to me." Percy giggled. Percy noticed that Mikayla was wearing some jeans and a dark green long sleeved t-shirt, which complimented her natural red hair beautifully. Percy shook his head, he needed to stop hanging out with Piper and the Aphrodite cabin.

"Yeah, well I don't know what your pale skin finds so funny about that, but I'll cut you some slack. You seem too stupid to even remember your own name." Mikayla commented, crossing her arms.

"Hey!" both Annabeth and Percy chorused. Percy narrowed his green eyes, and glared at her, looking straight into her eyes.

"I am many things, but I am not stupid. I may be idiotic at times, but I'm not stupid! And unlike you, I'm smart enough to know the difference!" Percy said, his voice getting louder with each word. Instead of looking scared, Mikayla's eyes softened, but she looked shocked.

"P-Per-Percy?! Percy Jackson?! Is that you?!" Mikayla asked, her jaw wide open. You could hear the entire cafeteria take a collective gasp. _Oh great, so apparently I'm popular _Percy thought.

"Yeah, I'm Percy. Do I know you?" Percy asked, his glare softening slightly. Percy could hear a few people getting up, sort of in slow motion, you could say, but he set that aside.

"It's me, Mikayla! Mikayla Owens! By George, what the hell happened to you?! You're so pale and…and skinny!" Mikayla asked, still shocked that 'Percy was here'. _Interesting choice of words, considering hell happened to me _Percy mentally snorted. The people that were standing up were starting to run, their footsteps getting closer and towards Percy. Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand, probably trying to warn him of something, but Percy shook it off.

"Um, I'm sorry I don't remember-"Percy started, before he was tackled from behind in a group hug, his head hitting the table. Luckily, Annabeth moved her hands just in time, so his head didn't hurt her.

"Percy! Percy! Oh my god, I can't believe you're back! Ah you're back!" the group cheered. They let go of Percy and the four of them moved next to Mikayla. They were all smiling, even Mikayla, who moments before had just broken up with her boyfriend.

"Um…who exactly are all of you?" Percy asked, scratching the back of his head.

"What do you mean, who are we?! We're your best friends!" a boy with brown curly hair yelled. He looked like Connor Stoll, which just made Percy sad. _Travis will never be the same. At Connor's wreath ceremony, he said he'd never prank anybody again without his brother _Percy though, depressed.

"Um, no you're not. Seriously, who are you?" Percy asked again, getting back on topic.

"It's us. You know, me-Jacob, him- J.D., him- Radio and her- Jess." Jacob pointed out. Jacob was pretty tall, almost as tall as Percy used to be, before he shrunk a few inches after…Tartarus…due to malnutrition, with brown hair, and blue eyes. J.D. was a short guy, about Leo-sized, but a little taller, wearing a white t-shirt and black pants, with hair like Percy's. Radio looked like he was well built, but spent a lot of time in garages, with a grease smudge on his shirt, his brown hair sticking up everywhere. Jess was a blonde girl, about as tall as Annabeth, but not near as beautiful as her- her blonde her straight, blue eyes, staring at me.

"I'm sorry, I still have no idea who you are." Percy said. He looked over to Annabeth and his eyes read _help me. _

"Percy suffered from memory loss this past year, that's why he doesn't know who you are." Annabeth explained.

"I'm sorry, who are you? And how do you know him?" J.D. asked, using his pencil as a pointer.

"I'm Annabeth, his girlfriend." Annabeth said, sticking out her hand so he could shake it. J.D. took it, shook it, and the let go of it like it was on fire. "Right…well then. Does he really remember nothing?" J.D asked, scratching his head with his pencil.

"You know, he is right here, and can speak perfectly." Percy sassed.

"Sorry, dude. So you don't remember anything?" J.D asked. Percy shook his head.

"You don't remember your pranks?" Jacob asked.

"No."

"Or your heroism towards the freshman?" Jess asked.

"Nope."

"Or your swimming records and captain's position?" Radio asked.

"What part of no don't you- wait swimming records? What swimming records?" Percy cut himself off.

"You don't even remember that?!" Mikayla, who was quite for a while, asked.

"Do we really need to go through this again? No!" Percy yelled.

"Come on, man! Really?! Come on, get up. Come with me! Field trip time." Jacob said as his supposed friends started walking towards the door. He looked at Annabeth, who shrugged, and they got up and followed, taking their backpacks with them.

**Oh, I'm so cruel! No, I just want the next chapter to be longer. So, what do you think? Review to your heart's content :)**


	3. Shock, Surprise and Questions

**A/N: The reviews I get are so funny. **

"Wow, Percy this is incredible!" Annabeth said, awestruck. She was talking about the swim trophies and records that were in the glass case before him- all of them his. There were a total of 9, five for broken lap times, the other four for winning district and state championships. Percy, however, didn't feel too proud. _I don't remember any of this. I don't remember any of it at all. And now…I feel like I'm getting false praise _Percy thought to himself, as he stared at the cabinet, a look of confusion written on his face. Percy felt a shoulder bump his, and he looked to his left and saw Jacob, smiling.

"So you do remember any of this, captain?" Jacob asked, jokingly.

"No, I don't. And to tell you the truth, I don't want to." Percy said, which caused Jacob and J.D to gasp. J.D. made his way up to Percy and poked Percy in the stomach with his pencil.

"And why not?! We had so much fun on that team! Do you realize how many times we pantsed the other members, when they were only wearing Speedos? And we got pictures of it too!" J.D yelled in his face.

"No, I don't realize 'just how many times we pantsed' anybody! Why would I do that, anyway? Why would any of you do that?! It's just…it's wrong!" Percy countered. Annabeth put her hands on Percy's shoulders, and Radio stepped between them.

"Okay, now. Let's all calm down. We should be happy, not fighting. After all, Percy's back, right guys? Remember how much we worried about him? We shouldn't be yelling in his face, when obviously he went through something traumatic." Radio scolded, releasing the tension between the two.

"Radio's right, we shouldn't be fighting. Now, J.D, don't you think it would be nice to apologize?" Jacob asked.

"I'm sorry, Percy. It's just weird…I've been friends with you since freshman year, man, and you don't remember any of it. I'm sorry." J.D apologized, holding his hand out. Percy wouldn't budge.

"Now, Seaweed Brain, the nice thing to do when someone apologizes and asks for forgiveness, is to do the same." Annabeth scolded, pushing him forward a little. Mikayla and Jess laughed, and Radio chuckled.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it, it's just, you know, it's foreign to me." Percy said, shaking J.D's hand. J.D. nodded and smiled.

"Great, now we're all one big happy family again." Jess said sarcastically. Everybody laughed and then the bell rang.

"Oh, hey, you two. That reminds me, what classes do you have?" Jacob asked.

"We both have the same schedules. Um, hold on." Percy said as he dug his schedule out of his pocket.

"Chemistry with McAllister, Algebra 2 with Tan, P.E with Brown and then English 12 with Paul." Percy read.

"What lunch do you have?" Radio asked.

"I don't know." Percy said.

"Give me that." Radio said, taking Percy's schedule out of his hands.

"He's got late lunch. Great! We all have third and fourth period together." Radio said after inspecting Percy's schedule.

"Great. Well we better get going. Nice to finally see you again, Percy. Oh, and nice meeting you…um…Annabeth. Nice meeting you Annabeth." Mikayla said as she and Jess started dragging the boys down the hall. Percy and Annabeth walked together hand-in-hand down the hall.

"I don't trust them." They said at the same time, both with dark undertones. They looked at each other in surprise. Annabeth spoke first.

"They seemed too pushy, sort of prying. I don't know, my senses have been off lately." Annabeth said, moving a strand of hair behind her ear. Percy nodded.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Mikayla, Jess and Radio were okay, though. Just Jacob and J.D… I don't know Annabeth." Percy said worriedly.

"Yeah. Come on, we're here." Annabeth redirected him into the classroom, where up on the board was a seating chart. Percy and Annabeth were at the same lab station, and they were right in front of the Emergency Shower. They waited for the bell to ring by making small talk. Once the bell rang, the teacher, Mrs. McAllister, walked up to the front of the classroom and spoke.

"Hello class. As most of you already know, I'm pretty easy going- unless you cause an accident and you or your partner have to use the Emergency Shower, and possibly go to the Emergency Room. Now, most of you are juniors, but for you seniors out there- don't fail my class again- it makes you look bad. After all, you've already taken the class, you _should _ace it." Mrs. McAllister said, which made the class laugh. Percy had a feeling the comment was directed towards him, but he shook it off.

"Now then, let's take roll." Mrs. McAllister said as she started calling off names from her roll sheet. Percy heard Annabeth say here next to him, but he was too busy looking at the chemicals on the table to care. He remembered the time he got an A in Chemistry because of Tyson. _I wonder how he's doing. He got pretty beat up in the war. But man! He was amazing against that-_ Percy's thoughts were cut off when Annabeth nudged him in the ribs. He looked up, and saw Mrs. McAllister glaring at him.

"Percy Jackson?" she called.

"Here." Percy said, raising his hand. She paused in her roll call and looked up at him.

"Ah, yes, Percy. Here we are again. Now, this year, you'll pay attention in my class, correct?" Mrs. McAllister asked.

"I suppose so, ma'am." Percy said, deciding to take the safe road and not sass the woman.

"You suppose? What do you mean by that?" she asked, glaring at him slightly. Luckily, Annabeth saved his butt, yet again.

"Ma'am, Percy suffered from memory loss last year, he doesn't remember much." Annabeth explained.

"And just who are you?" Mrs. McAllister asked, raising her eyebrows at Annabeth.

"Annabeth Chase. I've known him for a long time." Annabeth stated. Percy raised a quiet eyebrow. _Why didn't she say we were dating? _Percy wondered.

"Very well, Ms. Chase. Just keep him on track, okay?" she said, sighing. Annabeth nodded. And Mrs. McAllister continued with roll until she was all done.

"Okay. Now, there won't be a syllabus, because you only need four things. A pencil or pen, a 200 page composition notebook, your brain and of course, your body." She said. The class laughed. "Okay? Good. Now, tomorrow is when the real work will begin, so just keep those things in mind. We still have an hour left, and I have nothing more to say, so just don't touch anything on the tables, and you'll be free to mingle. Okay? Have fun." She said.

Percy looked over to Annabeth and asked, "You've known me for a long time?"

"I didn't want her separating us." Annabeth explained smiling. Percy smiled back.

"Now, what are we going to do about Jacob and J.D.?" Annabeth asked.

"I could ask around. I'll ask, like….hmm, I guess I could ask Mikayla. I mean she seemed pretty trustworthy, and she was the one who first recognized me." Percy guessed.

"Good idea." Annabeth said, nodding. For the rest of the period, the two, again, observed their peers for any deathly glares or pointy spikes coming out of their backs. When the bell rang, Mrs. McAllister stopped Percy and Annabeth at the door.

"Percy, I expect you to do better this year." She said.

"I'll try, ma'am. But, what exactly did I do last year?" Percy asked, wanting to know why the teacher seemed to hate him.

"Last year…you sent your lab partner, Lily Stevens, to the hospital. You spilled a few chemicals on her…but you didn't seem sorry at all. You, actually, laughed when they wheeled her away. Needless to say, she gave you the finger." Mrs. McAllister explained. Both he and Annabeth gasped.

"But…but why would I ever do something like that?" Percy asked, both angry and shocked at himself.

"I don't know, Percy, I don't know. I knew you in tenth grade, too. You took my elective. You seemed like such a sweet boy. I don't know what went wrong." She sighed.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Mrs. McAllister. I'll…I'll try to make it up to you." Percy said.

"I sure hope you do, Percy." She breathed. Percy and Annabeth left, and they didn't speak until they were in Ms. Tan's Algebra 2 classroom with a minute left until the bell rang. Ms. Tan explained that this was her first year teaching at Goode, and she couldn't wait for the year to come. Percy, however, wasn't too thrilled by the time class had ended. _No one takes an hour and a half to explain a two sided sheet of paper! Gods! _Percy growled mentally, as he walked into the boy's locker room. He found the locker that his schedule said was his, and unlocked the lock with the combination that was also written on his schedule. He pulled his P.E clothes out of his backpack, and just set them in the locker and sighed. _Great! I look like a mangled piece of meat under these clothes. Oh and look, here comes J.D, Jacob and Radar. Just my luck _Percy thought, as he remembered just how he got his scars. _No, no! I can't go back there! I shouldn't be thinking this! Ahh!_ Percy was mentally screaming as he thought of Bob, and thinking of the curses that the aria had bestowed upon himself and Annabeth.

"Hey, Percy, are you okay?" Radio asked, shaking Percy's arm. Percy blinked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Percy said, shaking off the memories.

"Well, come on then, get dressed. We have five minutes left." Jacob said. Percy sighed. _I'm going to have to do this for the rest of the year anyway, might as well start now _Percy figured as he took off his shirt as quickly as possible and put on his grey Goode one. He threw his shirt in his locker, and then quickly removed his jeans and replaced them with his navy basketball shorts.

"Let's go." Percy said, locking his stuff up, exiting the locker room. The boys followed him. The whole group met up in the gym, and for the first time in months, Percy saw Annabeth smiling because someone else told her a joke and not him. She saw him and he smiled at her, one that she reciprocated. 

"Hey guys." J.D. said as they walked up to the girls.

"J.D. we are not guys, we are _ladies._" Mikayla said, as she tried to curtsy with her shorts. J.D. laughed, as well as Mikayla. Suddenly, a booming voice yelled.

"Alright! Gather around for roll call!" the P.E teacher called.

"Most of you know me, I'm Coach Brown. Now sit down on the floor, and say here when I call your name." Coach Brown instructed. Percy watched as one by one, various students were called off.

"Jacob Halter?" he said.

"Here." Jacob raised his hand.

"Alright. Percy- Percy Jackson?" Coach Brown gasped mid-sentence.

"Here, sir." Percy said, raising his hand.

"By God…you're back Percy, you're back. My star swimmer is back." The Coach said with admiration.

"So you knew me too?" Percy sighed, looking down.

"What do you mean, my boy?" he asked, his smile fading.

"You see coach, our boy Percy here, lost his memory last year. That's why he left. And apparently, he doesn't have all of it back. He doesn't remember any of us either." Jacob explained, pointing at Percy's other friends.

"Oh my. Well, that's a shame. That's a damn shame. I'm sorry, my boy." The Coach sighed.

"I'm dealing with it." Percy said nonchalantly.

"Well that's the only thing you can do, right?" Coach Brown asked. Percy nodded sadly and Annabeth took his hand. After roll call, he explained that they would be doing five units: Football, Basketball, Soccer, Health and Hand to Hand Combat, in that order, starting with football the next day. For the rest of the period, he said as long as you were doing some sort of physical activity, you'd get your points. So Percy, Annabeth and the rest of them decided to just walk in circles around the gym for the remaining twenty minutes. They laughed and joked about what happened in their previous classes, but neither Percy nor Annabeth dared to bring up what happened at the end of Chemistry.

Once the bell rang, Percy looked Annabeth in the eyes, before, glancing at Mikayla. Annabeth nodded. He then walked up to Mikayla, and from behind whispered in her ear, "We need to talk. Meet me by the trophies as soon as you're done changing." Mikayla whipped around, but Percy was already walking towards the locker room.

Unlike earlier, Percy changed out of his clothes as soon as he got in the locker room, and practically ran out, and towards the trophy case. He waited for a good five minutes, which was practically murder on his ADHD brain, before he saw Mikayla walking towards him. He sighed in relief. She was standing in front of him when she asked, "What did you need to talk to me about, Percy? And why here?"

"I need you to tell me everything, because so far, you and Radio are the only ones I trust. Now, if you would, tell me everything."

**I feel like this was a bit OOC, but oh well, my OOC-ness will make more sense (especially to you guys) in the next chapter. Oh, and what are your thoughts on Percy's friends? Which ones do you like? Okay, Peace.**


	4. Answers and Homework

**A/N: I'm so sorry for not updating sooner. There was an update problem, and my chapter update had issues. Issues that I was mad about. But I'm over it now, so let's see where this chapter takes us.**

"What do you mean, Percy? Tell you everything? I have no idea what you mean," Mikayla asked, trying to act innocent.

"Don't bullshit me. Shit went down last year, and I don't remember it. Tell me what happened," Percy demanded. Mikayla sighed mumbling a, 'fine'. She rocked back and forth on her heels of her feet before finally speaking.

"Well for starters, you and Jacob weren't friends until like the end of October of last year. The only reason he's even your friend is because you two got in a major fight, which he caused, and you totally beat him. He had bruises for weeks. So he apologized, and started following you around. And he changed you. You became a super-jerk. You sent my best friend, Lily Stevens, to the hospital in a lab accident, and she moved schools because of you. You three did horrible things, Radio and I just sort of left the group, because you were acting like such an ass-hole, and we didn't know why. We thought it was just a phase, and you'd get over it. And Jess, well, she's just a new recruit. She's been Jacob's girlfriend for like, two months. But she's nice- way too good for him," Mikayla explained to Percy.

Percy didn't know what to think. The only sentence he could form was, "I'm sorry that I sent your friend to the hospital."

"It's alright. It wasn't anything too serious, it was just so unlike you," Mikayla told him. Percy nodded in understanding.

"So when you left, Jacob took over as swim captain. And he practically kicked everybody off, except J.D. Radio doesn't swim, he works with, well, radios. So, our star team, and star player, were destroyed within weeks. And now, up until today, Jacob's been a jerk, acting like he's the king of the school," Mikayla told Percy, explaining Jacob's evilness.

"Well…this isn't good," Percy said simply. He had no idea what he was going to do.

"Want my advice? Don't join the swim team again. I get that it's senior year, but, quite frankly Percy, you look like shit, and as frail as a piece of lettuce. And the people that Jacob replaced with your teams mates? Yeah, they hate your guts. They're all bullies that you had suspended because they were picking on freshman," Mikayla advised.

"So let me get this straight. Jacob really isn't my friend, the swim team hates my guts for something I don't even remember doing, and I did a lot of bad things before I left last year?" Percy clarified. Mikayla nodded. "Just great. Exactly what I needed to hear before I eat my lunch." Percy said as he walked up the hall, towards the cafeteria. He saw Annabeth, sitting next to Radio, looking like she needed to be saved. She spotted Percy from across the cafeteria, and her eyes widened in excitement- for what Percy didn't know.

Percy sat down in the spot next to Annabeth, immediately grabbing her hand under the table. Mikayla followed in behind him, sitting in between J.D and Jess.

"Where were you two?" Jacob asked, raising an eyebrow Mikayla.

"She wanted to apologize for this morning, when she called me a skinny-ass and pale skinned," Percy lied, wanting their conversation to be a secret.

"Oh, well that's cool. Aren't you two going to get any food?" Jacob asked, gesturing to the empty spots in front of them.

"Not hungry," they both mumbled, looking down. Their appetites hadn't been the same since Tartarus- maybe that's why they were always tired.

"Oh come on. You two are skin and bones! You need to eat!" Jess fussed, pushing the rest of her spaghetti over to Percy, who in turn, pushed it to Annabeth.

"Here, Wise Girl, have it. I don't need it," Percy mumbled, not in the mood for food.

"Percy, you have to eat, too." Annabeth insisted.

"You look so tired, you look like you could fall over. Eat it." Percy said, looking out the window.

"Well as long as you're with me when I fall, I'll be okay." Annabeth mumbled, before stuffing a fork full of spaghetti into her mouth- looking at him pointedly. _Ow, low blow there, Annabeth _Percy thought, rubbing his neck, as his friends laughed at the comment. She finished the rest of Jess's spaghetti, facing Percy.

"There, I ate it all!" Annabeth yelled playfully, sticking her tongue out at him. Percy rolled his eyes at her, reciprocating her actions by sticking his tongue out as well. They all laughed, when Jess asked, "How long have you two been dating?"

"Um, give me a minute," Percy said, counting on his fingers up from when they first met.

"Really, Seaweed Brain? It's only been a year." Annabeth said, slightly laughing.

"Well, I've known you for like, six. And let's not forget, I wasn't even there for half of it," Percy reminded her. Annabeth shrugged.

"You were gone for half the year?" J.D asked, biting into his burrito.

"Well yeah…when I got amnesia…I was…uh…visiting my cousin Jason in California." Percy answered, knowing he was only telling a half truth. J.D nodded in acceptance.

"So you've known each other since you were…twelve?" Jess asked, doing some quick head math. Percy and Annabeth nodded their heads in unison. "Wow, that's not only incredible, but it's extremely adorable." Jess gushed.

"Yeah, well after the first year, you learn how to deal with a Seaweed Brain like Percy." Annabeth joked, giving Percy a playful shove.

"I could say the same." Percy said, laughing to himself, remembering the good times- before everything got dark and pale. Just then, the bell rang, meaning lunch had ended, and it was time for English 12 with Paul.

"Come one, guys, off to English." Percy said, standing up, pulling Annabeth with him.

As they walked through the door to room 352, Percy pulled Annabeth aside, saying, "Stay away from Jacob." Annabeth nodded, understanding Percy's warning. They walked into Paul's white and dull classroom. The only interesting thing about it was a wall of windows in the back of the classroom, overlooking the pool and football field. There weren't any students in the classroom yet, so Percy was casual with Paul.

"Hey, Paul." Percy waved, taking his place according to the seating chart- which was conveniently placed right next to Annabeth's.

"Hello, Percy. How's your first day back?" Paul asked his step-son. Percy shrugged, not giving too much away. "That bad?"

"No, it hasn't been bad…just interesting," Percy said.

"Ah, well, class is starting soon, and more students are coming. Time to go full teacher mode," Paul said, earning a chuckle from Percy. The final bell rang and Paul introduced himself to the class.

"Hello. My name is Mr. Blofis, and I will be your English 12 teacher for this year. Now, just keep in mind that this is a discussion based class, so there will be more discussions about the novels we read than anything." The class groaned. Mr. Blofis smirked and said, "That's right, you'll actually have to use your brains. Now, because it's the last period of the day, we will be doing something easy and relaxing… a game I invented a while ago. It's called, How Well Do You Know Your Class. Basically, we go down the roll sheet, and we ask all of them 5 generic questions. The person with the most points at the end, gets some candy. And since this is a class of only 24 students, I think this will be quite a challenge. Ready?" Paul explained, while the class chanted, "Yeah!"

Paul walked up to his desk, where his roll sheet was, and called off the first person, Laura Antolini.

"Favorite color?" Paul asked the class.

"It's blue!" a boy shouted in the back. Laura shook her head.

"No, you dumb-bell it's green!" Mikayla yelled, causing the girl, Laura to nod, saying, "Yes."

"Great, one point Mikayla." Paul said, tracking the students' points on a piece of paper. The next four questions were also quite simple like, what's your favorite food, what do you want to be when you grow up, how old are you, and the best thing that's happened in their life. The last question proved to be difficult for the students to guess for both Laura, and Peter Bronson- Jacob got most of the points for Peter.

"Next up, Annabeth Chase." Paul said, eyeing Percy suspiciously. _Well at least I'll get five points _Percy thought to himself as Annabeth walked up front. The class mumbled amongst themselves, wondering who Annabeth was, and how they were going to guess the answers.

"Okay, now, what's Annabeth's favorite color?" Paul asked the class. The class was quiet, so Percy raised his hand and said, "Sea- green." Annabeth's cheeks slightly reddened with Percy's answer, but it quickly faded and she nodded in conformation.

"Point one for Mr. Jackson. Now, what's her favorite food?" Paul asked, smiling at Percy.

"Mashed potatoes," Percy answered almost instantly. Annabeth nodded, remembering the Thanksgiving before Percy left, and how she was the only one who ate Sally's mashed potatoes.

"Nice job, Percy. But can you tell me this? What does she want to be when she grows up?" Paul asked, staring his step-son right in the eyes.

"An architect." Percy said, remembering all the times that she had ranted off about architecture. Annabeth once again nodded.

"Wow, aren't you guys going to give him any competition? Point three for Mr. Jackson. Now, how old is-" Paul was cut off, when Percy answered, "18." Annabeth, nodded, looking back at Paul, who was chuckling adding another tally mark by Percy's name.

"Okay, well this has been like a lightning round. This last one, though, do you know the answer? What is the best thing that has happened in Annabeth's life?" Paul asked the class. Percy didn't want to say the answer, because it was a bit embarrassing, but he also didn't want Annabeth to stand up there all day while the class tried to guess.

"The best thing that has happened to Annabeth… was… meeting me." Percy said slowly. The class laughed at Percy, but it quickly died down as Annabeth turned to look at Paul, and nodded.

"Well, Percy, you sure do seem to know a lot about Annabeth," Paul commented as Annabeth sat back down in her seat. Paul continued down the roll sheet, tallying up the points. Nobody knew as much about a person than Percy did about Annabeth, although Jess got three of the questions about Jacob.

"Okay class, this will be the last one for the day. Now, get up here…Percy Jackson." Paul said as Percy stood up, and walked up in front of the class. The class stared at him. _They're staring at me like I'm a freak… Well I certainly do look different, but I don't deserve this._

"Okay, what's Percy's favorite color, guys?" Paul asked. The class immediately started shouting out colors.

"It's orange, like those shirts he always wears!" one girl said.

"No, it's green like his eyes!" another girl disagreed.

"No, it's black like his hair!" J.D. joked from the back of the class.

"Nope. I'm afraid all of you are wrong. Because, Seaweed Brain's favorite color is blue." Annabeth said over the roars of the class. Percy nodded at Paul, even though Paul already knew that she was right.

"Nice job, Annabeth. Now, class, what's Mr. Jackson's favorite food?" Paul asked, sitting on the edge of his roll-y chair.

"Chinese!"

"No, spaghetti!"

"His mom's blue chocolate chip cookies," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes at the class' answers.

"Yep," Percy affirmed. Paul added another point by Annabeth's name.

"Is it going to be like this again, guys? Come on! Now, what does he want to be when he grows up, and leaves this place?" Mr. Blofis asked.

"He wants to be an Olympic swimmer!" Jacob, J.D., Mikayla, Jess and Radio chorused. Percy shook his head 'no', which caused confused looks from the class.

"All he wants to be is alive." Annabeth said gloomily, knowing his exact reasons for thinking like that. Percy nodded, sadness in his eyes, his head down.

"What?!" Jacob, J.D., Mikayla, Jess and Radio yelled in outrage.

"Come on, now, people change guys. Now, how old is he?" Paul asked.

"18." Annabeth said almost immediately. Percy, once again, nodded in confirmation, and Paul added another point by Annabeth's name.

"Alright guys, last question of the day, and then you're dismissed. What is the best thing that has happened in Percy's life?" Paul asked curiously, he himself not knowing the answer.

"When he joined the swim team?" Radio questioned. Percy shook his head.

"When he got his district medals?" J.D. asked. Percy, again, shook his head.

"The best thing that has happened to Percy is that he survived this summer" Annabeth said quietly, but Percy heard. He nodded glumly, and walked back to his desk.

"Oh…well then, Annabeth got all of Percy's points. You may pack up your things and leave." Paul said, at a loss for words. Most of the class immediately got up and left, talking about how boring the first day of school was. Percy and Annabeth packed up their things and walked up to Paul.

"Hey guys, you ready to go?" Paul asked, putting some papers in his bag. They both nodded, and walked out of the door. Paul locked the classroom up, and they left.

* * *

Percy and Annabeth were sitting in Annabeth's room, both of them filling out their syllabuses that needed to be turned in for credit. Annabeth was naming Sally as her guardian for the time being, seeing as Sally wasn't her parent. Percy had his filled out, and Annabeth was copying what he wrote down, not knowing all of the required information.

"Okay, I'm done. Come on Seaweed Brain, let's go get these signed," Annabeth said, getting up.

"Hold on. There's something I have to tell you," Percy said, continuing to sit.

"What?" Annabeth asked, confused.

"It's Jacob. I talked to Mikayla, and it's Jacob. Apparently, he wasn't my friend until right before I left. And in that time, he influenced me, I guess. She told me that after I left, Jacob kicked everybody off of the swim team, and replaced them with bullies- and they hate me. And I don't remember any of it, and I need to make it right," Percy said, sounding like the hero that he was, but depressed at the same time.

"Percy. It's the first day of school. Just relax. Give it a week, at most," Annabeth pleaded.

"She also told me not to join the swim team, because, and I quote, I look like shit, and as frail as a piece of lettuce," Percy continued.

"She's right. We both look horrible, and…well…we're not the same. No matter how much I hate him at the moment, Chiron's right- we need to recuperate, away from the mythical world. So just chill. If it's still bothering you in…a month…then try and fix it. But otherwise, you are going to be a smooth sailor," Annabeth commanded.

"Yes, ma'am," Percy said, slightly smiling as he stood up and walked into the kitchen to get his papers signed for school the next day. But, unknown to Annabeth, his smile was a façade. _How can I let it go? I hurt people, and I have to make it right…but I guess I'll just have to wait it out…_


	5. Detonation

**A/N: Not as much response to the last chapter…Hmm…I wonder what happened? Nah, I don't really care (I'm lying- I adore your reviews). Okay, recap. Percy- while still having his years of fighting experience, is as weak and frail as a piece of lettuce. Okay? That will play into the story. He's weak, pale and sleep deprived. In other words, kind of imagine Nico- but taller. Okay? Does what I'm typing make sense? I sure hope it does…**

He lasted three weeks and two days. Within those three weeks and two days, Percy and Annabeth had learned more about his friends of old. They ate lunch together every day, and they were always on the same team in P.E- but the coach didn't have a problem with it saying, "Jackson and that other girl (in reference to Annabeth) are all the team that you guys need, they almost always seem to have the ball. I guess memory loss didn't affect his knack for sports." And Percy hadn't been questioned about the scars on his body, but the boys gave him weird looks in the locker room. Annabeth had decided to join the matheletes, while Percy was just trying to maintain the B+ average that he had at the moment.

It was a Wednesday, after school. Percy was sitting in the chair outside the library, doing his homework, waiting for Annabeth's matheletes meeting in the library's computer lab to be over. He was proud that she was trying to participate- for him, it was still too hard. He could barely remember anything about Goode- no matter how much his friends clued him in, or how hard he thought about it- it just wasn't there. _Maybe Hera just7 erased that, thinking that'd I'd die or something before I needed those memories again _Percy thought to himself, flipping the page of his math textbook. He had already been sitting there for a good forty five minutes, and it was absolutely murdering his ADHD inhabited brain- and Annabeth's meeting still had fifteen minutes to go. Then, something weird happened. Percy heard a group of footsteps- and they were close. He looked up from his textbook, and looked to his right, where the footsteps were coming from- from down the hall that lead to the pool. Percy heard the group laughing and talking, so he assumed that they weren't monsters- although he wasn't sure just yet. They mysterious group emerged from the corner, and Percy looked back down at his textbook- trying not to look suspicious- although his eyes flicked between the group and the words.

They were all tall, ranging anywhere from 5' 10'' to 6' 3''. They were also all wet, leaving tiny puddles forming behind their footsteps. Percy could only assume that they had just come from the pool. Then, the tallest one, looked over Percy's way. And he pointed Percy out to the rest of his group, and they proceeded to walk over to Percy.

"Hey, Jackson. So you're back, huh?" The leader asked, not sounding like he really cared. Now Percy, not even knowing who these people were, decided to just engage in normal conversation.

"Yeah, I'm back. But I'm busy, so could you, I don't know…Leave?" Percy replied, trying to avoid a situation that was quickly going south.

"Oh, so you want us to leave? Your swim team buddies?" The leader asked. Percy immediately recalled what Mikayla had said to him, that when he left, Jacob took over and replaced the entire team with bullies. Percy could feel the fear running through his body- he wasn't what he used to be. He could never take on one of these guys, let alone four of them. Apparently Percy didn't hide his fear very well, because the leader leaned down, and grabbed Percy's shirt collar, lifting him up out of his chair, ultimately resulting in his textbook dropping to the floor with a loud 'THUD'.

"Jacob told me about your amnesia, Jackson. Sorry to hear that. Let us re-introduce ourselves," the leader said, having two of his friends pin Percy's hands and legs to the wall, so he could have both of his hands free and available. Percy was trapped.

"Meet Gun," the leader said, punching Percy in the face, "and Show," he said, punching Percy on the other side of his face. _Oh how cute, he named his arms _Percy thought sarcastically. The punches definitely hurt Percy- not as much as drinking fire down in Tartarus, but they still hurt- and he knew that his face would most likely bruise. With the pause between punches, Percy took the few seconds of time he had to notice that the fourth lackey was making a recording of the fight, a huge smile on his face.

"Now, to your left, you'll see Knock," the boy said, punching Percy in the stomach. Percy doubled over as far as he was allowed to, gasping for the ounces of breath he could get. "And to the right, Out," the boy said again, upper cutting Percy in the nose, due to his hunched position. Percy threw his head back up in pain, feeling the blood beginning to flow freely from his nose. It hurt like hell- literally- when added with all of the other injuries, but Percy knew it had to stop soon. He only had one more person to 'introduce'. The leader motioned for the two holding Percy to let him go. Unwillingly, Percy's legs gave out immediately, and he fell to the floor, one hand clutching his stomach, the other his nose.

"Oh, and just for future reference, Jackson, that's Dead," the boy said, referencing the boy who was taking the video, as he kicked his hand, which in turn, was like kicking his stomach again. Percy's hand that was holding nose immediately rushed to Percy's stomach, alongside his other hand. Percy didn't look up, but he could hear the boys running down the hall and out of the school, most likely all the way home. Percy glanced up at the clock, and saw that the meeting had only thirty more seconds. _Wow, are they lucky or what? If Annabeth had caught sight of them, she would have beat them senseless _Percy chuckled, even though his blood was everywhere, and he was in immense pain. _Fifteen more seconds. I wonder who will be first out the door _Percy wondered as he aimlessly kicked his legs, trying to stand up. He managed to make his way over to the wall by his chair, and he propped himself against that- a trail of blood following his movements. _Well if I can't stand up, at least this won't look as bad. Three…two…one. And the first one is…_ Percy thought as he kept his eyes downcast, but looking in the direction of the door. The door opened, and Percy saw a pair of boy's shoes, and dark ripped jeans. Percy heard a gasp, and Percy looked up a little further to see that it was Peter, the matheletes president. His blue eyes were wide, but he managed to croak, "I'll be right back," before running back into the library.

Percy chuckled- Peter wasn't your average nerd. He was actually pretty cool, Percy had talked to him a couple of times within the almost month he had been there. He wasn't a jock, but he wasn't a geeky nerd- he was just about the most normal person Percy had ever met. He had nice friends, and Percy was sure that if he'd brought him to the Aphrodite cabin, he'd be tackled for his 'cuteness'. Percy had asked him if he wanted to sit with Percy and Annabeth at lunch, but he declined, saying he had issues with Jacob that went back to their childhood.

Percy could hear Peter open the door to the computer lab, and rather loudly say, "Annabeth, you better see this." It wasn't exactly a yell, Percy decided, for that was against the rules, but it was pretty close. He heard two pairs of rushed footsteps, and then Annabeth emerged from the door, all but slamming the library door into the wall. Peter pointed Percy out, and Annabeth gasped, jogging the few feet over to him, kneeling down in front of him.

"What happened to you, Percy?!" Annabeth asked, astonished.

"Oh come on, I've been worse," Percy joked. Annabeth glared saying, "Percy, this isn't a time for joking. What happened?"

"Oh, a few guys thought it would be funny to beat up the amnesiac. You know," Percy told her, sighing. Annabeth nodded, and then turned to Peter.

"Can you get my bag, Peter? Please?" Annabeth pleaded.

"Yeah, sure, I'll be right back," Peter said, lightly jogging into the library.

"Now…What really happened?" Annabeth asked, assuming that it was a monster.

"Four guys from the swim team, I'm guessing," Percy said, sitting a little straighter.

"The swim team?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah, apparently Jacob told them I didn't remember them, and I guess they decided to take advantage of that," Percy explained.

"How many were there?" Annabeth questioned.

"Four. One, the biggest one, beat me up. Two and three held my arms and legs against the wall, and four to take a video. Gun and Show, which were the biggest guys' fist, got my face. Then, Knock and Out, who were the guys holding me down, got my stomach and nose. And then the last one, Dead, kicked my stomach again. But, really, Gun and Show did all the talking," Percy explained sarcastically.

"Oh, how funny. Did they actually think they were being original?" Annabeth asked, rolling her eyes, a small smile on her lips. Percy chuckled, but it hurt his stomach, so he stopped. Right at that moment, Peter showed up with Annabeth's bag.

"Um, unless you want all of them to see him, I suggest you two go home, or something. We don't want any rumors, or anything, right?" Peter told them. Annabeth nodded her head.

"Peter, can you help me get him out that door?" Annabeth asked, grabbing her bag from him and pointing to the hall exit.

"Yeah, sure," Peter nodded. After gathering up Percy's belongings, Peter and Annabeth hoisted Percy up, and they acted as his legs, because Percy's couldn't their footing. More of the matheletes trickled out of the library, and Percy heard whispers, but the three of them surged forward, almost to the door. Once they were outside, Annabeth said, "Thanks Peter, I've got it from here."

"How are you getting home?" Peter asked, concerned.

"I'm driving. Our car's right there," Annabeth pointed to Paul's car that was sitting under a skinny tree. Once Annabeth had joined the matheletes, Paul had agreed to take the subway home on Wednesdays.

"Okay. I'll see both of you tomorrow?" Peter asked.

"Most likely, yes," Annabeth answered, walking toward the Prius, Percy leaning heavily upon her. She got Percy into the car, and threw both of their backpacks into the backseat, and they took off, towards Percy's apartment.

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, owww!" Percy yelled as Annabeth straightened his nose, and then taped it straight with a butterfly bandage, one of those thin, white, bandages.

"I'm sorry, Percy. I know it hurts, but we can't use ambrosia or nectar for this. You have to look like this, since Peter already saw you. And besides, with the amounts we've had in the last two months, we are lucky to be alive and we shouldn't risk it," Annabeth told him, applying another butterfly bandage to his nose.

"Knock on wood," Percy said, wiping away the excess blood from his nostrils.

"Fine," Annabeth said, knocking on the table she was sitting on.

"Is he any better, Annabeth?" Sally called from the kitchen. She didn't want to see the blood.

"Hold on, we're almost there," Annabeth responded. She turned to Percy and said, "Go wash your nose, and change your shirt." Percy stood up and fell into an attention like stance.

"Sir, yes, sir!" Percy yelled, giving Annabeth a salute and then walking towards the bathroom. Annabeth gathered up the garbage from the Band-Aid packages and such, and threw them away. Then she put the first aid kit back together, and returned it to it's spot above the kitchen sink, on the highest shelf in the cupboard.

"Remind me again how that happened?" Sally asked.

"I guess four guys from the swim-team beat him up," Annabeth responded.

"The swim team?! But they're all nice boys, why would they do that?" Sally asked, outraged.

"According to Mikayla, when Percy went missing, Jacob replaced the swim team you know with a bunch of bullies," Annabeth explained.

"Jacob, you say? Hmm… I always assumed that kid was a bad nut. What are you two going to do about this?" Sally asked. Before Annabeth could answer, however, Percy interjected from the kitchen doorway.

"That's just what I was going to ask. What _are_ we going to do? I mean, I predicted this from day one," Percy said, walking towards his mother and Annabeth.

"We're going to wait. We have to do this slowly...You know what, I have to talk to Paul," Annabeth said, suddenly having a light bulb moment. Sally and Percy followed her as she walked into Sally and Paul's shared room, and walked up to him reading a student's paper.

"Hey, Paul?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, hey guys. What do you need?" Paul greeted.

"Just came to ask a question," Annabeth replied.

"Okay…well, shoot," Paul said, smiling.

"When Percy was the captain of the swim team, was it Goode's best sport?" Annabeth asked.

"What type of question is that? Percy is a demigod- Poseidon's son. Oh course it was our best sport- we won everything," Paul said chuckling.

"I'm getting there. And when Percy left, and Jacob took over as captain, we started losing a lot, right?" Annabeth asked. Paul nodded. "Would you say the school's overall spirit went down tremendously?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely. Percy was the most liked person there- even respected by the seniors, which is rare for a junior. It was almost like a dark cloud started looming over the school," Paul said, nodding his head.

"Did the school's violence go up?" Annabeth asked.

"What do you mean, Annabeth?" Paul raised an eyebrow.

"You know, more fights? Bullying? Things like that," Annabeth clarified.

"Oh...although I hate to admit it, yes. Once Percy left, things like bullying and such definitely went up- especially on the under classmen," Paul nodded his head, sighing.

"What are you getting at here, Annabeth?" Percy asked from behind Sally.

"Don't you see, Percy? Ever since you left, this type of thing has been happening all the time, right Paul?" Annabeth said, gesturing to Percy's nose.

"Yeah, definitely," Paul confirmed.

"You see? These things happen to a lot of people at Goode, every week. Ever since you left-" Annabeth was cut off by a polite Paul.

"Sorry, I just want to say, that most of the people that do get hurt, are either under classmen, kids from Percy's swim team, or Percy's friends," Paul said, scratching his neck.

"Exactly how many friends did Percy have, Paul?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, a lot of the underclassmen. And a lot of people in his class," Paul answered.

"See Percy! You've affected practically the whole school!" Annabeth said, elated.

"I still don't see what you're getting at," Percy said, crossing his arms.

"Percy. You were the king of the school. Everybody's best friend. Best swimmer since ever. The avenger for the freshman. And then suddenly you vanish. And things get dark. And more kids get beat up, and bullied. And then, you come back. But with no memory, and as weak as a newborn. And the bullies think they can take advantage of you- so they beat you up. And the school is a total wasteland- and now that you're back, not doing anything about the bullies and it's like you're a scar. Why rear your head back up, if you're not going to do anything?" Annabeth challenged.

Sally's eyes widened- she had realized what Annabeth had been getting at.

"What?" Percy asked, still confused.

"Gods Seaweed Brain, how hard did they hit your head?! You have to take back your school- take back your kingdom!" Annabeth yelled.

Percy looked at Annabeth, bewildered.

"You want me…to be what I used to be? How on Earth are we going to do that?! I don't remember any of these people!" Percy yelled.

"You have to start at the roots! Where did you gain all of your former popularity? Where did you first get all of these friends?" Annabeth questioned. Percy thought for a moment before realization suddenly dawned on his face.

"The swim team. It started with the swim team," Percy said, barely above a whisper.

"Exactly," Annabeth said, a lot calmer.

"But...but what if I don't want to this? What if I don't want to be the hero again? Chiron sent us here to heal- to relax, a life where things would be calm. How am I supposed to be calm, if I'm trying to _win_ back my school?" Percy asked, Sally rubbing his back. Annabeth walked up to him and took his fallen head in her hands.

"Percy…you and I know…that if you don't stay productive…you'll just start to think too much. And when you think too much…it's about the bad things… and not the good. And besides… I have a feeling if you don't do **something**, I'll have to start patching you up more often. And, in case you haven't noticed…I don't really enjoy doing that," Annabeth whispered, pausing on occasion to let the words sink in.

Percy stayed quiet. Sally stayed quiet. Paul stayed quiet. Annabeth just kept Percy's face in her hands, waiting for him to say something.

"Okay. Okay, I'll do it. But…you have to have my back on this. Okay?" Percy pleaded quietly.

"Of course, Seaweed Brain. Anymore stupid requests?" Annabeth asked, referring to the age old joke between the two. Percy cracked a smile.

"Yeah," Percy said, breaking out of Annabeth's grip, turning to his mom. "What's for dinner?"

Not much happened the rest of night- but Percy was oddly quiet through most of it. And at 2 in the morning, Percy was silently suffering through another nightmare- this one about drowning.


	6. Everybody Has To Start Somewhere

**A/N: I honestly love writing this story. No matter how many reviews or favorites I get for the one chapter, I honestly just love writing this story. And from now on, I'll try to update at least once a week- most likely on Fridays/ Weekends. Okay, leave me yo' reviews ;)**

**Always forget to do this: I don't own Percy Jackson, or any of the other characters associated with the Percy Jackson series.**

The next day, Thursday, Percy woke up in pain. If his body was in shock yesterday, and couldn't feel the pain, today was definitely the end of that- he could tell that he was beaten to a pulp. His stomach hurt, but not nearly as bad as his face- after all his nose was broken, and he most likely had a pair of shiners. _Ugh, being a demigod is so hard _Percy mentally complained as he sat up, fully awake now. The night before, he had a couple of nightmares, but he guessed that he hadn't screamed, because he wasn't woken up.

Percy stood up, and cracked his back before proceeding to the bathroom with his clothes in his arms. He just about had a heart attack when he saw his reflection in the mirror. His nose was abnormally large and red. His eyes had two large purplish-blue bruises surrounding them, and added to his pale complexion, he looked like he had jumped straight out of a horror movie. _Lovely, just lovely _Percy thought sarcastically as he lifted up his shirt to exchange it for his clean. He winced as he pulled it over his head, and looking in the mirror again, he saw that his stomach was bruised as well… heavily. Not really wanting to think about it, Percy just pulled his other shirt over his head. Then he put on his pants and combed his hair, giving it it's messy look. He walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, where Annabeth was eating alone. He sat down next to her, and casting his head down, he poured his cereal.

"Good morning. Paul's sick, so we don't have to leave for a while," Annabeth informed him.

"Cool," Percy mumbled, shoving a small spoonful of Lucky Charms into his mouth. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Annabeth sighed and said, "Let me see,"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Percy responded snappily.

"Percy, let me see your face," Annabeth said gently. Percy, giving in, slowly lifted his head. Percy closed his eyes, expecting Annabeth to gasp, but she didn't. _Well, I guess she's been a demigod a lot longer than I have…she's probably seen much worse…half of it from me _Percy rationalized in his head. He opened his eyes, and saw Annabeth staring at him intently, sympathy shining in her eyes.

"You know, as much as I know you want to use your water powers to heal yourself up right now, you can't. For all we know, those four lackeys told Jacob about yesterday, and most likely they showed him the video. And if you didn't have any evidence, he'd get suspicious," Annabeth explained, rubbing his shoulder.

"To tell you the truth, I was so out of it last night, I hadn't even thought about using my powers until right now," Percy chuckled. Annabeth laughed, muttering 'Seaweed Brain'.

"Don't worry, it's almost the weekend. I'll let you heal yourself up a little bit then, okay?" Annabeth bargained.

"Deal…Oh, and Annabeth?" Percy asked.

"Yes?"

"Um, well, just exactly how are we going to start that plan of yours? And…and when?" Percy asked slowly.

"It's all going to depend on how lucky we are today. There are a few things we have to do first. When we see Jacob this morning, you're going to ask him for to be allowed to try out for the swim team- but don't accept his offer of captain- you're not ready for that yet," Annabeth explained. Percy nodded and motioned for her to continue. "And then somehow, you have to get J.D alone in the cafeteria, so that he can point out the original members of the swim team."

"Why do we need to do that?" Percy asked.

"You have to crawl before you can walk, Percy. We have to start off with some of your first friends- and considering you already have a few of them on your side, now we need to swim team," Annabeth explained.

"Well that makes sense," Percy said.

"Of course it does," Annabeth joked, walking into the kitchen to wash the dishes.

* * *

After a short bubble fight, and finding Percy's shoes, the two were sitting in the parking lot of Goode High School, listening to the radio on low. After checking her watch for the fifth time in about 10 minutes, she turned to Percy and pulled something out of her pocket.

"Here, I grabbed these for you before we left," Annabeth said, handing him a pair of Aviator sunglasses. Percy took the, and put them on his face.

"Thanks. Are you ready?" Percy asked.

"Yeah," Annabeth responded, giving him a small smile. Percy turned off the engine, and gave Annabeth a quick peck on the lips, before stepping out of the car.

The two walked out of Paul's Prius and towards the cafeteria building. Nobody gave Percy a second glance, but then Percy saw Peter running up to them.

"Hey. How are you?" Peter asked. Instead of answering verbally, Percy just removed his sunglasses. Peter gasped.

"Holy shit!" Peter whisper-yelled. Percy just shrugged and put the glasses back on his face.

"Peter, you have to keep this on the down low, okay? Nobody can know," Annabeth pleaded.

"Okay, I can do that. Just a question…Who did this?" Peter agreed.

"Swim team," Percy mumbled, turning his head.

"The swim team?! Figures…Say if you guys plan on doing anything, just tell me, and I'll help," Peter said.

"Thanks Peter, it means a lot. We have to go, but we'll see you later," Annabeth said, before she and Percy continued towards the cafeteria, leaving Peter behind.

They entered the cafeteria, and opportunely saw that J.D was the first one there. Annabeth and Percy looked at each other, nodded, and proceeded towards J.D. They sat on either side of him- surrounding him.

"Oh, hey guys. What's up?" J.D asked in surprise.

"Oh, not much. Just wondering if you could do us a little favor before any of the others get here," Percy mused.

"Well, what do you need?" J.D asked, raising a brow.

"Do you think you could point out the original swim team for us?" Annabeth asked.

"What do you mean, the original swim team?" J.D questioned, confused.

"Percy's swim team. From when he was captain last year," Annabeth clarified.

"Oh. I mean, I guess I could, although I don't know why you're so interested in them. They aren't very interesting. They all sit at the same table. That one, in the corner," J.D pointed at the table. It was a circular table, in the corner by the wall of windows. "Jacob calls it the Rejects Table, since most of them are outcasts now. But I don't usually say anything, I mean, they're still my friends, you know?" J.D explained.

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Percy said, staring at the table. They all looked happy enough, they were laughing and joking around. Percy couldn't look for long because Jacob and the rest of Percy's friends showed up. Jacob sat across from Percy, with Jess and Radio at his side. Mikayla decided to sit next to Annabeth.

"What's up with the shades, Hollywood?" Jacob asked jokingly.

"I don't know," Percy lied.

"Oh come on, you're inside. Take 'em off," Jacob said, reaching over the table and taking off Percy's glasses. The whole table gasped, and Jacob dropped the sunglasses. Jess was the first one to speak, her hands finally dropping from her mouth.

"What happened to you?" she hissed.

"I got jumped outside of the library," Percy said nonchalantly.

"Do you know who they were?" Radio asked.

"No, I don't," Percy lied. Annabeth had explained to him on the way to school that secrecy was everything.

"That's a shame. If you see them, just tell us and we'll get them for ya'," Mikayla said from her position next to Annabeth.

"Okay, thanks. But anyways, Jacob, I was wondering…" Percy trailed off.

"What?" Jacob asked, making a face.

"Do you think…I could try out for the swim team?" Percy asked, putting Annabeth's plan into it's first phase.

"Really? You want to join again? You don't even have to ask, captain," Jacob said enthusiastically.

"No, no. I don't want to be captain, I just want to be a swimmer. I need…I need to start making friends again, and I don't need the stress that comes along with being captain," Percy explained, turning down Percy's offer. Jacob' face fell.

"Well, in that case I don't know. I could've gave you captain, but if you just want to be a swimmer, you'll have to try out," Jacob explained.

"Why's that?" Percy asked, worried.

"Because in order for you to become a normal swimmer, I'd have to kick off a team member. If you became captain, you and I could just be co-captains, and nobody would have to leave," Jacob clarified.

"Oh, I see. But I still want to try out. Do you think I could do it tomorrow, after school?" Percy asked, pleading slightly.

"I don't see why not, we have practice tomorrow anyways," Jacob shrugged.

"Great!" Percy exclaimed, looking at Annabeth in the corner of his eye. The group talked about trivial things, like homework and Percy's beating, until the bell rang, where they scurried off to their classes.

* * *

The day went along boringly, except for in P.E, where the boys in the locker room gasped at Percy's stomach wounds. Percy and Annabeth had drove home, to find Sally and Paul watching the television. Percy struggled with his homework, but Annabeth helped him with it, and the two soon finished. It was about half an hour after dinner, with Percy and Annabeth sitting on the fire escape, when Percy turned to look at Annabeth.

"I'm going to go for a walk," Percy said, getting up.

"This late?" Annabeth asked surprised.

"The sun's still up. I just need to clear my head," Percy stated.

"Okay…okay. If you're not back in half an hour, I'm sending out a search party," Annabeth joked.

"Only for me, right?" Percy smiled.

"Of course," Annabeth grinned, walking Percy to the door.

"I'll be back in a few," Percy promised, walking out the door.

Percy had a destination in his mind- the secluded pond in Central Park. It was the only place he could do what he had to do without looking suspicious. He lightly jogged to Central Park and skillfully, he climbed over a set of bushes that hid a small duck pond. He walked to the edge of the pond and sat down on the bank. Using his powers, he conjured up a wall of water, proceeding to throw a drachma through it.

"O, Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Thalia Grace, Lieutenant of Artemis…um, I think she's in Canada right about now," Percy trailed off, hoping that Iris, or rather Fleecy, could find his cousin. The connection came through clear enough. Thalia was sitting around a camp fire in a Thinker position, while her fellow Hunters laughing and having a good time around her.

"Hey," Percy attempted to get her attention. She, nor the other girls, noticed.

"Hey!" Percy yelled. Thalia's head shot up, looking around wildly.

"Over here, dummy," Percy said, rolling his eyes. Thalia looked over in Percy's direction, and she got up and walked towards the transmission.

"Percy? What are you doing? You know I'm really not supposed to do this," Thalia said, looking worried.

"I know, but I need to talk to you…It's sort of-ish important," Percy explained. Thalia rolled her eyes, muttering 'It better be important', before facing her Hunters, and saying, "Hunters, dismissed until called upon. Leave this general area, so that I can have a...talk with my cousin here." The Hunters got up and left, but Percy heard one of them mutter, "Ooohhh, Artemis is going to be mad."

"Now, what is so important that you needed to interrupt me thinking? And can you take off those ridiculous sun glasses? It's night time over there" Thalia asked, sitting on the ground.

"Fine, fine. And just for your information, the sun is still up," Percy said sassily, before taking off his sun glasses.

"Holy Zeus' Beard! What happened to you?!" Thalia asked, her eyes bulging out her head.

"Well, I'm assuming that you already know about the whole Camp situation, correct?" Percy asked, gesturing with his hand.

"Yeah, and I'll tell you right now, that I think what Chiron did was completely unfair," Thalia said, crossing her arms over her knees.

"Thanks, but anyway, long story short, I got beat up, and because I'm going to school, and people saw me get beat up and stuff, I can't have any ambrosia or nectar, because they would get suspicious," Percy explained. Thalia nodded her head in understanding. "But that's not what I need your help with."  
"Well just spit it out, Kelp Head! I have things to do," Thalia said, her voice slightly elated.

"How…how do you deal with your fear?" Percy asked timidly. Thalia instantly sat up straighter.

"What do you mean, my fear? I have no idea what you're talking about," Thalia scoffed, trying not to look weak.

"Thalia, I'm serious. We both know, and now I need your help. How do you deal with it?" Percy asked again. Thalia scooted closer to the Iris message and whispered, "What's this all about, Percy?"

"When…when I was in Alaska with Hazel and Frank…I almost suffocated in a muskeg. And…well…eventually, it sort of evolved…and, well now I'm afraid to go underwater…I guess, you could say that I'm afraid of drowning," Percy explained, carrying on with the hushed tones. Thalia sat there, listening, nodding in understanding. "And now, Annabeth and I have devised this plan to get back at the people who beat me up, and to put it into action, I have to join the swim team," Percy finished.

"I see, I see. Well, Mr. Jackson, you have yourself in quite a predicament," Thalia said, scratching the back of her head.

"I know, and the reason that I'm asking you is because, well, we both fear our father's land of control, and I just thought you'd, like, understand better that Annabeth would," Percy explained.

"When are you trying out?" Thalia asked.

"Tomorrow, after school," Percy stated.

"Okay. Well, I know it's going to be hard, but you can't panic. Just breath, relax. When you get in the pool, think of your best water related memories- so that the thought of it doesn't scare you as much. You have to be calm, as normal as you can possibly be, because otherwise, you could very well have a panic attack in a pool…which wouldn't be pretty. And, no matter what your stomach tells you, eat at lunch, because it's just going to make the fear worse if you're hungry," Thalia recommended.

"Is that really all you got?" Percy asked, scratching his head.

"They don't call it a fear for nothing, Percy," Thalia stated, rolling her eyes at his behavior.

"Right…Well I guess that's all I need. I'll talk to you later," Percy said, reading his hand to disconnect the call.

"Percy, wait!" Thalia called. Percy stopped his hand.

"Yeah?"

"How…how are you and Annabeth doing? With the…um…recuperation?" Thalia asked, choosing her words carefully.

Percy sighed. "It's…it's getting better…slowly. Very slowly." He looked up to see worriment etched on her face. "Hey, don't worry about us, we'll get through it…we always do," Percy reassured her.

"I…know. I just have no idea how you two do it," Thalia sighed, holding her head in her hands.

"We just…we're there for each other…I have a feeling this is more than what I'm making it out to be…" Percy trailed off. Thalia didn't look up, but she nodded her head yes from within her hands. "Is it…Is it about…Luke?" Percy gulped. Luke was a very sensitive subject for Thalia, and she usually preferred not to talk about him unless it was necessary. Thalia lifted her head.

"Tomorrow…tomorrow would have been his twenty-fifth birthday. He would've been twenty-five, and in December, I would've been twenty-three. But everything got fucked up…the life of a demigod got in the way, and I died. And then, he made some bad choices, and then you came along, and the Great Prophecy started…and he died," Thalia said, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "When I used to think about it…us…I always imagined what you and Annabeth have…" Thalia chuckled, turning dead silent towards the end.

"Thalia," Percy sighed. _She's one of the few people who deserve a happy ending…and no matter what she does she'll never be able to get it _Percy thought, mentally shedding a tear for his cousin.

"But, I shouldn't be talking about that, especially not here, with the Hunters. Listen Percy, I 'gotta go. I sure hope those tips work for you," Thalia said all too quickly, swiping her hand through the water. Percy sat there for a moment, and his mental tear turned into a few real ones. He just let his emotions out, but he had to get home because the sun was almost all the way down. He stood up and brushed the dirt off of his pants before jumping back over the bushes and starting his journey back home.

* * *

"Do you want to talk about it?" Annabeth asked, holding Percy in her arms at one thirty in the morning. Annabeth had assumed that Percy was having a nightmare, from his violent sobbing, but she was soon going to be proven wrong.

"It was…it was about Thalia," Percy said through his sobs. "It was about Thalia and Luke…they were…they were happy…she was happy…b-because he wasn't dead, and they were just sitting on- on Half-Blood Hill…laughing. It was th- the happiest I've…I've ever seen her. And…it makes me s-sad. Because she'll never be able to-to have that happiness th-the happiness that she deserves," Percy explained, choking back on his words due to his crying. Annabeth lifted his head up to look at her.

"You dreamt about Thalia? It…it wasn't a nightmare?" Annabeth questioned. Percy nodded. "Then why are you crying worse than you ever have?"

"Because! Sh-she'll never be tr-truly happy! And it j-just devastates me!" Percy yelled, a multitude of tears streaming down his face.

"Percy," Annabeth sighed, her voice full of compassion. Percy's fatal flaw was loyalty, of course it would affect him deeply if someone he cared about wasn't happy.

"Come here," Annabeth said, hugging him tighter, Percy sinking into her shoulder. She soothed Percy until he stopped crying due to tiredness. They fell asleep together, just holding each other. And when Sally discovered them in the morning, she didn't scream, and she wasn't shocked. She was sad, because upon closer inspection of her son's face, he was tear stains…and it absolutely broke her heart.

**I apologize for dropping the F-bomb in there**


End file.
